‘MasterChef’ Cooks Up Demo Victory Over ‘America’s Got Talent’

In battle of vets, the rising Fox show beats the declining NBC series; CBS' 'Brother' a winner too

Fox continues to rule as Wednesday’s broadcast leader in key demos this summer, with the hot “MasterChef” pulling ahead of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” in last night’s middle hour. CBS’ “Big Brother” also was looking good, opening Wednesday a winner and rising week to week.

A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” figures to again log the night’s top averages, though preliminary numbers weren’t available early Thursday.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “MasterChef” averaged a 2.3 rating/7 share in adults 18-49 and 5.5 million viewers overall in Wednesday’s 9 o’clock hour, rising slightly from last week and the outright 18-49 leader over NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 9.2 million viewers overall), which was down a tick from last week to tie its season low. A week ago, “MasterChef” logged its first demo victory to date over “Talent,” winning by one tenth (2.2 to 2.1).

“America’s Got Talent” was easily the No. 1 broadcast of the night in total viewers. Also on the night for NBC, 10 p.m. drama “Camp” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 3.4 million viewers overall) was on par with last week.

At CBS, “Big Brother” (2.2/7 in 18-49, 6.3 million viewers overall) was up 10% to win the 8 p.m. hour across the board while also standing as Wednesday’s No. 1 broadcast program in adults 25-54 (2.7/8). The reality vet was followed on the Eye by encores of “Criminal Minds” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) and “CSI” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall).

ABC lagged its rivals with repeats of “The Middle” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall), “Last Man Standing” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall), “Modern Family” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.3 million viewers overall) and “The Neighbors” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 2.7 million viewers overall), followed by ban original episode of “The Lookout” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 2.9 million viewers overall), which matched its summer low and placed fourth among the broadcasters in 18-49 and 25-54.